How Far We've Come
by Cyanide-Ocean
Summary: When the Bellas are sitting around in a circle, Chloe makes a confession that the others didn't see coming


"I have been there for you for so many years and all you do is treat me like shit," Chloe snapped at her friend.

"Alright, okay, enough! Shut up! Everyone! I joined this group so I could hang out with a bunch of really cool chicks!" Amy intervened, a defeated expression on her face, disappointed about how the rehearsal was turning out. "And because I was really sick of all my boyfriends and I needed to get away from that." Even though Beca was gone, it didn't mean the entire group had to fall apart either, even if the freshman had raised a good point that Aubrey's ways weren't going to get them anywhere. There could've been a better way to address the situation, but it was evident that Chloe was tired of keeping her mouth shut about how she felt over her friendship with Aubrey. "But this is some serious horse shit," Amy shook her head, looking between the two of them. The second Amy admitted to not wanting to be like how the Bellas used to be, uniform and quietly obeying Aubrey's domineering ways, the others began to follow suit and headed for seats to gather up their things.

"We should've listened to Beca," Chloe muttered as she began to walk passed the lead Bella.

"So it's my fault?!" Aubrey exclaimed, turning around to face them.

"No, that's not what I'm saying!" The redhead stated, exasperated.

"No no no, that's what you're all thinking, isn't it! That I'm the jerk!" Aubrey pointed to herself, "I'm the girl obsessed with winning," she spat out.

"Aubrey, you're too controlling and it's going to ruin and it's going to ruin all of us!" Her friend pointed out, causing the older blonde to shake her head.

"I can lose control if I want to!" Aubrey huffed. "I can let go! This time I'm not going to choke it down!" She exclaimed, backing up a few paces. She stood there, Cynthia Rose tilting her head in confusion, trying to figure out what the woman was saying, Chloe arching her eyebrow with her hands on her hips, and the others unsure of what to make of what the Bella was trying to say. With her hands on her knees, Aubrey took a few breaths before letting loose a stream of vomit, causing everyone to cringe and jump back, aside from Chloe who stood her ground and began to applaud her.

"Come on! Bring it!" She taunted, "You can do better than that!"

As Aubrey began to vomit again, Amy waved her hand frantically, "Enough! Enough!" A disgusted expression on her face as all the other Bellas climbed over the seats to either duck for cover and get as far away as possible.

"We could have been champions!" Chloe shouted, making a break for the Pitch Pipe just as Aubrey decided to do the same. "Give me the Pitch Pipe, you bitch!"

Amy grabbed Aubrey, restraining her and turned her back to Chloe who tried to snatch it from her friend. Chloe grabbed at Aubrey's sweater, pulling it off her shoulder in the process as they struggled for the Pitch Pipe while Amy did her best to keep them apart. Just as the co-captain's fingers grasped at it, the Pitch Pipe flew out of Aubrey's hands, causing both woman to dive for it, with Amy jumping on top of them to pin them down, putting them both into headlocks.

"Guys! Guys! What's going on?!" Beca interrupted the fray; Cynthia Rose grabbing Stacie's thigh who was sounding the rape whistle, Ashley and Jessica huddle between the seats, Lilly making a snow angle - or rather vomit angel, and Denise also in the seats cringing, wishing it all to be over.

"Nothing! This is a normal Bellas rehearsal!" Aubrey hastily got to her feet and walked over to Beca, "Which you're not one."

"Yeah… I was wondering if I could come back. That is, if you'll have me back in," the freshman rolled her lips into a thin smile. When Aubrey made no reply, Beca took hold of the back of one of the metal chairs and began to drag it behind her as she slowly walked to the door, looking back every few paces to see if the lead Bella would change her mind.

"Wait!" The senior finally called out.

"Thank you, that would've been embarrassing," the smaller brunette muttered under her breath, bringing the chair back to the circle. "I think we need to each confess something. You know, to get rid of some of this tension and bring us closer or whatever," she looked around at the other Bellas who all nodded as they took a seat.

Aubrey stood up, with a sigh, clearly not entirely willing to speak but doing so for the sake of getting The Bellas back on track. "I feel like I'm losing The Bellas…And my best friend, which is why I'm so hard on all of you. I just want everything to be perfect," she murmured before taking a seat as Chloe stood up next.

"I'll get to the confession part, I promise, but I just want to say you're never going to lose me, Aubrey. Okay, here it goes," she let out a sigh, biting down on her lower lip, refusing to make eye contact with anyone just yet. "We've been best friends since freshman year and I've done my best to stand by her as much as I can and she's been there for me when I've needed her too. There're a lot of times when I want to grab her shoulders, shake her, and yell at her to loosen up, but there're also a lot of times where I have a lot of fun with her too. She makes me laugh and smile even when I'm at my worst and those are the last things I want to be doing. I don't know where I'd be in life if I didn't have her around to help me keep my head on straight. Yeah, we haven't really been having the best year this year and it's a been rough with The Bellas the previous years, but I wouldn't have it any other way either since it's all lead up to this - to where we finally get to change things up a little and maybe we'll reach our first victory. Despite all the hard times, it's been worth it, so I wouldn't change anything. I guess my confession is that I'm in love with my best friend," she murmured, sitting back down as everyone looked at her dumbstruck for a few seconds, letting Chloe's words sink in.

"What? Are you serious?" Aubrey finally spoke up, turning to the redhead, still shocked by everything the other woman had said.

"Very serious, or as you'd say Dixie Chicks serious," Chloe laughed softly. "Even though I don't show it all the time and I know this year it must've been especially hard since I spent a lot of time with Beca and engaging her in witty banter, it didn't mean anything beyond being friends. I'm done trying to run away from my feelings," she nodded, smiling meekly at the blonde. "It's been you this whole time that I've wanted - it's always been you Aubrey."

A warm smile crept across the lead Bella's face as she ducked her head, tucking a few blonde locks behind her ear, silently thrilled that her feelings for her friend were mutual.

"I guess that statistic about 1 in 10 being a lesbian was wrong for us," Amy commented, causing Aubrey to let out a small laugh.

"You two should kiss," Cynthia Rose grinned.

"What?" Aubrey looked at her, "I hardly think that's-" But before she could finish her sentence, Chloe placed a hand on her cheek and turned the woman's face so she was looking at her. Aubrey couldn't prevent her lips from curling upwards into a smile as she felt Chloe press her lips softly against her own. "I love you," Chloe whispered into her ear as she pulled away, grinning.


End file.
